Traditional methods for operating the car navigation system include operation methods using a remote controller or a touch panel. The operation methods using the remote controller include an operation type in which buttons for remote control (a controller) are provided on a steering wheel of a car (i.e., PTL 1). This type of operation enables a driver to perform operation while driving a car without moving his/her hands off the steering wheel. Further, there exist car navigation systems which allow a user to perform operation only with his/her utterance by designating a destination or the like by voice input.
However, since car navigation systems have been recently becoming multi-functional, but the remote controller has a limited space for buttons arranged thereon, it is difficult to arrange, on the remote controller, the buttons corresponding to multiple functions. It is particularly difficult to arrange many buttons on the remote controller provided on the steering wheel. Further, the operation by voice input has also problems such as incorrect recognition due to noise in the surroundings or the like.
To deal with these problems, methods are proposed in which a user operates the car navigation system by using gestures (i.e., PTL 2, PTL 3, and PTL 4). The operation by using gestures has advantages such as no necessity for gazing at or touching a screen, no problem in arranging buttons according to functions, and no degradation in the recognition rate due to noise in the surroundings or the like.